The Smoky Butter You'll Want To Put On Everything This Memorial Day

Compound butter may be the kind of thing you'd find atop a filet mignon served by a high-end steakhouse, but that doesn't mean it's strictly for fancy food. The cinnamon honey butter you get at Texas Roadhouse is also a type of compound butter, as is the garlic butter that makes such a perfect accompaniment to an Italian-inspired meal. With a barbecue, however, smoke flavors are meant to be showcased, so to accompany your Memorial Day menu, we'd suggest making and serving a smoky compound butter.

The main ingredient in smoky butter — besides a stick of softened butter, that is — needs to be something smoky. A teaspoon or two of smoked paprika will do the trick. If you'd like a spicier butter, you can use chipotle powder instead, although you might want to start with half a teaspoon or so and work up from there. Yet another way to make butter taste smoky would be to add a few drops of liquid smoke. 

In addition to your smoky ingredient of choice, you should stir in additional flavorings like salt, pepper, cilantro, garlic powder, mustard powder, lemon juice, or Worcestershire sauce. Once you've mixed everything together and your butter is relatively homogeneous, let it sit for a bit so the flavors can blend. The butter can be used as is or be chilled. (It looks even better if you roll it into a log prior to chilling.)

This Memorial Day (or any other barbecue occasion), why not save your meat from drowning in the sugary goo we call barbecue sauce and top it with a pat of smoky compound butter instead? Butter and steak is a classic combo, but smoky butter would be equally at home melting all over a pork chop or chicken breast. You can even use it to flavor hot dogs or hamburgers by slathering it over the buns. (After all, it is butter that sets Culver's burgers apart.)

This butter can also bring some smoke to your sides. Perhaps the most obvious use would be to spread it all over an ear of grilled corn – or smoked corn on the cob, if you want to double down on the smoky flavor – but it would be equally delicious on any other vegetable you care to grill. It also pairs perfectly with cornbread or biscuits, and with a little creativity, you can even incorporate it into potato salad. This traditional barbecue side typically doesn't include butter, but if you take the extra step of making potato salad from smashed potatoes rather than boiled ones, you can coat them with smoky butter as they bake (or better yet, grill).